He should have known it was a trick the moment that he walked into the empty room. But, he had been taught about people who didn't necessarily want the help that they needed, people that would hide in a corner or actually end up running out of the room. They were rare, but they were there. Being Jason Morgan's unofficial nephew, Damian knew full well that there were plenty of people who really did not like the idea of being in the hospital, no matter how much they needed the help. It was only because he thought that he might have been dealing with that rarity that he didn't allow his common sense to tell him that he was walking into something that he did not want to confront. Someone who he didn't want to deal with. But, there was no way of avoiding it. Or was there? "Move out of the way, Maxie. Please."

"No," she replied sternly. "I am not going to let you leave like this. We're going to talk about what happened, Damian, and you're going to listen to me."

"What is there to talk about?" He asked. "You let me catch you in bed with another guy, and you seemed to enjoy it. I might not know a lot of things about relationships, because I'm a bit new to the game, but, last I checked, doing something like that was not a very good thing."

"Damian…"

"What, what are you going to say?" He quickly interjected. "Are you going to try and tell me that the person I saw wasn't really you? That it was your evil identical twin, Maxine, or something like that? Maybe you were possessed by some otherworldly force that made you think for a second that you could get away with being unfaithful to me. Face it, Maxie, you screwed up."

"Don't you think I know that?" While she may have tried to allow herself to fight back the tears that she was feeling so strongly in her heart, she knew that she couldn't. Maxie couldn't deal with the hate that he was directing at her. She only wanted him to keep on loving her forever, even if it meant not loving her in person. Maxie didn't want him to hate her. "I'm sorry, Damian! You have no idea how sorry I am…"

"Sorry isn't good enough," he replied, giving her the same cold attitude that she had given him the night before, only he was pulling back the punches. After all, he wasn't the one that was with another girl having sex in bed. To think there was a time when he wanted to save that part of himself for Maxie and Maxie alone. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have even thought for a moment that there was a chance that they could make it work? Why was he so blinded by his love that he threw his common sense right out the window? Because… as his father would have told him, that was what love did to a person, it made them think things that they wouldn't think otherwise. When it was good, it was really good, when it was bad… it hurt a lot.

"Why won't you listen to me?"

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Because we had something special."

"You notice the word that you used in that sentence? Had. Past tense, as in, we don't have it any more. Why don't we have it anymore? Because you threw it away."

"This isn't all my fault!"

"Oh, please, let's hear what you have to say about why it isn't your fault. Why I drove you to do something so horrible. I really would love to hear the reasoning behind your casual little romp with that guy…"

"He doesn't mean anything to me!"

"But I bet you made sure that he thought he did…"

She shook her head, "He knew that it was just because I was upset about you, about our relationship."

"You just couldn't deal with the fact that I didn't want to give you any, could you? You couldn't deal with the fact that I wanted to keep that part of me until I knew that I was with someone who I could be with for the rest of my life. You had to have someone inside of you, and it didn't matter who it was…"

"I do not deserve that!"

"You deserve so much worse than what I'm giving you, Maxie. Don't ask me why I'm holding back, but I am. I want to think that we meant something to one another, that might be it…"

"I loved you! I still do!"

"Is this how people in Port Charles show how much they love each other? By hopping into bed with someone else? Because, if it is, I sure as hell don't want any of that love…"

Maxie couldn't hold it in anymore. She was being attacked. It wasn't that she didn't expect herself not to be attacked, nor did she think that she didn't deserve to be attacked, but she couldn't handle the feeling of being under fire. Finally, she just blurted it out, "This is all your fault, Damian! Not mine! You're the one who had to tell me about how much you loved me, how much you cared about me and how Brook didn't mean anything to you… and then you come to the hospital and you comfort her! What did you expect me to think when I saw the two of you in the chapel holding each other like that?"

"I would have expected you to actually ask me what was going on! Then you would have realized that maybe, just maybe, something had happened, like, I don't know, maybe her mother was in the hospital and we didn't know how she was doing. We didn't know if she was dead or not. I realize that you can't understand how it feels to think for a moment that you might lose your mother, since you're too selfish to actually care about your own, but try thinking about it from my perspective for a moment, would you? Think about what I've lost, who I lost. I know what she was going through, I know what I needed, and what I needed then was a friend, not a member of my family who was going to try and convince me that everything was going to be all right when they didn't know. I didn't raise Brook's hopes, I just let her know that I was going to be there for her."

"I know that now," Maxie replied, hanging her head. "I know how much I screwed up, and I want to make it up to you. I don't want us to end it like this, Damian. Please, give me another chance. I believe you now! I believe that you don't care about her like that, I believe that you can be friends with her and not feel anything for her. I really do! Please… don't give up on us…" Maxie quickly rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, begging him, "Please… please don't give up on us…"

"I didn't give up on us… you did." He pushed her away, not wanting to feel the touch of her body on his, because it brought back too many memories. Memories which were once filled with joy and hope, but now were filled with nothing but pain. "You broke the rules, Maxie. And this isn't something that we can just fix by you saying that you were sorry that you did it and you were never going to do it again. You shattered something that can't be fixed, you tore out a part of my being that I thought would be safe with you. Sorry, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to look at you in the same way ever again. Or even look at you at all."

Crushed by the words that he said to her, and the fact that she knew that they weren't actually going to change, that he wasn't saying them out of anger, that he really meant them, she knew that there was nothing she could do to make everything all right. She truly had screwed up beyond all hope. Her eyes welled with tears again, and she heard the door open. "Wait!" She called, looking over before he could leave. "Do… do you still love me?"

He didn't give her an answer, although he did linger for a moment before he walked out of the room and away from the door. Faintly he could hear her sobs, her wails, and, while he felt the same amount of pain in his heart, he had to keep it inside, no matter how much it hurt him. The reason he didn't give her an answer was because he didn't know what it would have been. He wanted to say no, but he wasn't sure.

Kelly's-

"You always look like you're the happiest man in the world when they come to see you…"

"That's because I know how lucky I am to have them in my life," Mike replied to Elizabeth as he wiped the counter down. Business had slowed down to almost a crawl. The dinner rush was over, and only a few stragglers even managed to make their way into the restaurant, usually for something quick, or something to go. "After all the times that I've screwed up, I'm just fortunate that Sonny even gives me the time of day."

"He'd be a fool not to give you the chance to be in his life, Mike."

"No, Elizabeth, I was the fool for getting out of his life when I did. I was stupid, everything that I did was foolish. I let my own son be raised by that monster that Adella ended up with, the man who crushed so much of his spirit, who made him afraid to open his heart to people. All of that stemmed from what I did when he was a boy. When I came back into his life, I didn't think that I would actually have a chance at really being there, really making an impact with him… but, the little progress that I've made… I thank God every day for it."

"Have you ever tried talking to him?"

Mike laughed, "Of course I have. But, something you need to realize about Sonny is that when he doesn't want to listen talking is basically useless. He gets that from his mother. There were times when she would get so upset that nothing anyone ever said would get through to her. I think it was a defense that she utilized so she wouldn't have to show people how hurt she was. It worked… sometimes too well."

"Everyone has that part in them."

"Yeah, but my son is one of the people who believes that he has to let that part of his personality be the dominant part. If I could help him change, Elizabeth, I would, but I know Sonny… he won't let me help him. Not anymore. He's never going to trust me, not like he would have if I wouldn't have let him down so much when he was a little boy."

"He trusts you with Michael…"

"That's because I've shown him that I can be a better grandfather than I ever was as a father. Believe me, there were plenty of times when I would have to fight to even get a few seconds alone with Michael, let alone a day where I could take him somewhere without one of Sonny's men following me. Like I said… I'm fortunate to have that connection with any of my family. I think a lot of it had to do with Michael, and with Courtney, too. They showed Sonny that I can be a better person than he wanted to think I could be."

"If Sonny needed help to see that, then he's blind."

"Thanks… but I respect Sonny's position. If the roles were reversed, I think I would have acted the same way."

Port Charles was a small place, she didn't need to look around all that much to find the restaurant that he had talked about. She even asked someone, and they gave her pretty good directions. She stood outside and read the sign. Kelly's, that was the place that he said he wanted her to stay, and that was where she was at. Looking inside, Sam saw that it was almost completely dead, save for a few stragglers and people who were working. "Sometimes this is a little too easy," she remarked to herself. Small towns were either the hardest places to do a job, or the easiest. Sometimes people were just so good natured that they didn't care. Other times they wanted to know everything about a person, no matter what. Sam had to wonder what kind of town Port Charles was, and certainly hoped it would be easy. But, even on some level, Sam wanted a challenge. She hated it when things went a little too easy.

The woman walked into the restaurant and watched as the two sets of eyes looked directly at her. "Hi," she said softly, putting on her best smile. She refused to act for them, make it seem like she was some airhead who didn't know what she was doing. "I have a room that I checked out… under the name McCall."

Mike nodded, "I remember, someone called for you. Said that they would pay. The checked clear and I guess that's the only thing that matters, right?"

"I would hope so."

"Are you going to be staying here long?" Elizabeth asked, a genuine and heartfelt smile being given to Sam. She always wanted to welcome people into Port Charles, never wanted them to feel like they were somewhere that they wouldn't be welcome. Elizabeth knew how that felt, and didn't want other people to feel the same way.

"I just need to take care of some things around here. That's why I got the room, you know? So that I wouldn't have to worry about a lease, or some long contract. I could come, do what I needed to do, and get out. Plus, I'm close to a place where I could get something to eat. I hope you have good food here…"

"I think we can manage," Mike replied with a wink. "Do you have anything that you want in particular? I could give you a sample, on the house, just to see if you like it or not."

"A burger and fries would be great," Sam replied, inwardly thinking that it was all too easy. The people she was dealing with weren't going to give her much trouble. But, they weren't the target. Sonny and Jason were.